(Reuters) — A class-action lawsuit has been filed in Canada against
Mt. Gox, the leading bitcoin exchange that lost more than $400
million of customers' digital currency, along with Mizuho Bank Ltd,
one of Japan's largest lenders.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice,
comes just days after Mt. Gox, based in Tokyo, filed for a U.S.
Chapter 15 bankruptcy, which shields the company from lawsuits in
U.S. courts.

The plaintiffs are Canadian residents who allege they are owed
currency and the value of bitcoins by Mt. Gox that they have been
unable to withdraw.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of "all persons in Canada who paid a
fee to Mt. Gox to buy, sell or otherwise trade bitcoins" and all
those who had bitcoins or currently stored with Mt. Gox on February
7.

The filing alleges that a lengthy security breach at Mt. Gox
resulted in "the pilfering of millions of dollars' worth of its'
users' bitcoins."

On February 25 the website was shut down and users who had currency,
including bitcoins, in Mt. Gox accounts could no longer access those
funds. Approximately 750,000 of users' bitcoins were lost, the
lawsuit states.

Mizuho Bank is named in the lawsuit because "all non-bitcoin
currency received by the Mt. Gox Defendants from its users was held
in an account or accounts" at the Japanese lending institution, the
lawsuit said.